ბერძენი
Georgian
Alternative forms
- ბერზენი (berzeni)[1]
Etymology
Attested as Old Georgian ბერძე-ნ-ნი (berʒe-n-ni, “Greeks”), ბერძლ (berʒl, “in Greek”), ბერძული (berʒuli, “Greek”, adjective),[2] whence also dialectal Gurian ბერძულაი (berʒulai, “(Greek) nut”). Cognate with Mingrelian ბერზენი (berzeni, “Greek person”). Transliterated as Բերձեան-ք (Berjean-kʿ, “Byzantines; the Byzantine Empire”) in the Armenian translation of the The Georgian Chronicles.
Of uncertain origin. The hypotheses include the following:
- Ultimately from Ancient Greek Βυζάντιον (Buzántion, “Byzantium”), with uncertain sound changes.[3]
- From ბრძენი (brʒeni, “wise, sage”). Possibly from the notion that philosophy was born in Greece.[4][5][6]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /berd͡zeni/
- Hyphenation: ბერ‧ძე‧ნი
Noun
ბერძენი • (berʒeni) (plural ბერძნები)
- Greek person
Derived terms
- საბერძნეთი (saberʒneti, “Greece”)
Descendants
- → Abkhaz: а-бырзе́н (a-bərzén)[7] (or from the Mingrelian cognate)[8]
- → Armenian: բերզեն (berzen), բերձեն (berjen), բերձին (berjin)[9]
- → Bats: ბერძა (berʒa)[10]
- → Ossetian: бердзе́н (berʒén)[11]
- → Svan: ბერზენ (berzen), ბერზემ (berzem), ბერძენ (berʒen), ბერძემ (berʒem) (or from the Mingrelian cognate)
- → Udi: бердзен-ун (berʒen-un)[3]
References
- Paolini, Stefano (1629), “ბერზენი”, in Dittionario giorgiano e italiano, Rome: Stampa della Sagra Congr. de Propag. Fide, page 10a
- Abulaʒe, Ilia (2014), “ბერძენი”, in Ʒvelkartuli-ʒvelsomxuri doḳumenṭirebuli leksiḳoni [Old Georgian – Old Armenian Documentary Dictionary], Tbilisi: National Centre of Manuscripts, →ISBN, page 74b
- Gippert J., Schulze W., Aleksidze Z., Mahé J.-P., editors (2009) The Caucasian Albanian Palimpsests of Mount Sinai (Monumenta Palaeographica Medii Aevi : Series Ibero-Caucasica; 2), Turnhout: Brepols, →ISBN, page II-84
- Rapp, Stephen H. (1997) Imagining History at the Crossroads: Persia, Byzantium, and the Architects of the Written Georgian Past (in two volumes), PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, page 207, footnote 261
- Rapp, Stephen H. (2003) Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium; 601. Subsidia; 113), Leuven: Peeters, page 421, footnote 22
- Kamusella, Tomasz (2009) The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, page 258
- Бгажба, Х. С. (1964) Бзыбский диалект абхазского языка [The Bzyb Dialect of Abkhaz], Tbilisi: Academy Press, page 112
- Gamaxarija Dž. et al., editors (2009) Abxazija: S drevnejšix vremen do našix dnej [Abkhazia: From Ancient Times Till the Present Days] (Očerki iz istorii Gruzii) (in Russian), Tbilisi: Intelekti, page 273
- Sargsyan, Artem et al., editors (2001), “բերզեն”, in Hayocʿ lezvi barbaṙayin baṙaran [Dialectal Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), volume I, Yerevan: Hayastan, page 188a
- Schiefner, Anton (1856) Versuch über die Thusch-Sprache oder die khistische Mundart in Thuschetien (in German), Saint Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, page 145a
- Абаев, В. И. (1958) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow, Leningrad: Academy Press, page 260a
Further reading
- Марр, Н. (1906), “Крещение армян, грузин, абхазов и аланов святым Григорием (Арабская версия) [The baptism of Armenians, Georgians, Abkhaz and Alans by Saint Gregory (the Arabic version)]”, in Записки Восточного отделения Русского археологического общества (in Russian), volume 16 (1904–1905), pages 167–170
- Khintibidze, Elguja (1998) The designations of the Georgians and their etymology, Tbilisi: University Press, →ISBN, page 104, footnote 1, fancifully identifies the ბერ- (ber-) part with Πελ- (Pel-) in Πελασγός (Pelasgós)
Mingrelian
Noun
ბერძენი • (berʒeni)
- Alternative form of ბერზენი (berzeni)